Hoping for a rainbow after the storm…

Sorry it has taken me so long to post the results of the February Little Miss Crafty Pants Challenge. It seems as though a few of us took on a little more than we could handle, and I’m still waiting on some pictures. For now, I’m going to go ahead and post the ones I have, and I’ll post the other results as they are sent in. I just want to say that I’m super impressed with these ladies and their mad crafting skills!

Here’s what she had to say about her project: I got my turtle finished in one sitting, about two hours. Abby ‘helped’ me, so by the time I was done sewing I’d had enough, and just hot glued his eyes on. Mistake! She pulled them off the next day. He’s blind for now, but I’ll sew them back on.

I did learn how to make his head stand up on its own, although that will have to be tried in the next turtle. This one just got a couple stitches between head and shell.

Lesson: if a two year old with a snotty nose grabs some polyfill, do not attempt to retrieve it. It’s already been used as a tissue. Yuck!

When I picked my project for the challenge, I was spending a lot of time at home sitting with hubby because he was so sick, but he has been feeling so much better that I am spending my extra time snuggling with him, going to the gym with him, playing lazer tag with him and some of our friends, etc. Because of that, my project isn’t even close to being done, but I’m not making any apologies because I love having a hubby who isn’t constantly in pain! But I still wanted to share my progress with you all because I’m still quite proud of it :o)

She also picked a pretty large project and is still working on it, but it looks lovely :o)

Please go ahead and send me your projects for March (catchingourrainbow (at) gmail (dot) com) and I will try to post them Friday or Saturday. For the lovely ladies who haven’t sent their results yet, you can finish them as your March project if you want–just let me know and I will post them again :o)

Ok ladies. It’s time to send in your completed crafts. I will go ahead and admit that my craft is coming along quite nicely and probably won’t be finished for a few months, but I did make something else for a friend’s wedding so I will post that (along with a picture of my progress on the sweater). So don’t feel bad or hang your head in shame if your craft is incomplete!

I originally said that completed project pictures would be due today, but I didn’t post any reminders. So maybe we can say Wednesday? Is that enough time for everyone? I already received one email, so it may not be a problem at all. Just let me know!

It looks like we got a pretty good turnout for the Little Miss Craftypants Challenge :o) All of the projects look so great, and some of them look intimidating–I’m seriously impressed at the talent we have in this community. I’m so excited to see all of your finished creations! Here are the projects that will be made:

She got her project idea off of Pinterest, and here is what she has to say about it:
“I chose this project as a housewarming gift for my best lady in the whole world. She just moved into her own apartment and is living alone for the first time. She told me she desperately needs things to hang on the wall. I decided to make this nail/string state art project since she has moved around a lot. I’ll be making one of Maryland, one of Arizona, and one of Washington–all these states she has lived in. Hope she loves them!”

Here’s what she had to say about her project: “I have started to make this for my godson’s belated Christmas present! This will be the most complicated crochet project I will have ever done and I’m ready to improve!”

Here is what she has to say about her project: “I’ve decided to make a stuffed turtle. I found this fabric at goodwill, and I’ll use it for his shell. I have some plain green for head, feet, and tail. I’m going to design the pattern myself, so no links to share for this one. I’ve always been an artist who loved crafty stuff, but I just started machine sewing this past Christmas. I love it!!”

She got her pattern from The Daily Knitter, and here’s what she has to say about it: “I have selected yarn in the shade of golden orange and require a thick 2 ply yarn. Lets see how it turns out to be. I think it will add a nice pop of color to my living room.”

Finally, here is my project:

I got the pattern here. I’ve been knitting for awhile, and I’ve finally started branching out into harder projects. Last month I made a cute cardigan that was very basic, and I wanted to try something a little harder this month. I may be biting off more than I can chew, but I ‘m going to give it my best effort! I picked out a very soft green yarn that’s really pretty, so as long as I don’t screw up the knitting, it should be a very nice sweater.

Just as a reminder, email me a picture of your completed projects by February 25, but if it doesn’t look like we will be ready by then, we can adjust it. Along with your picture, let us know how it went including any disasters, do-overs, or happy accidents :o)

Think this looks like a lot of fun and don’t want to miss out? Email me a picture of a crafty project you want to complete along with a link if applicable and a short description in the next couple of days and I’ll add you in!

Also, it seems like most everyone was interested in making this a challenge so anyone who completes a project every month for three months will get a prize. The best part? The prize will be something handmade by another blogger who is participating. It will be a prize exchange! Wahoo!

Remember how I said that hubby has Crohn’s and he will be starting Hu.mira to help him? Yeah, that hasn’t happened yet. He got his prescription on the 9th of this month, and he will finally get his medicine on Tuesday, an entire month after he first went to see the doctor. First, we had to wait for him to get his TB test, which he couldn’t do on a Thursday or Friday because it has to be read two days later and can’t be read on Saturday or Sunday, so it was a whole week before he was done with that. Then, we had to deal with the insurance company and prove to them that he actually needs this medication and no other medication will work. Then, we had to contact the drug company because our co-pay was $1,000 for two shots (which is a month’s worth of medicine). Seriously? Why the hell do we even have insurance if it doesn’t actually make it so we can afford our medical care? Anyway, the drug company has a co-pay assistance program that will basically waive the cost of the co-pay so that we only have to pay $5 for every month. Once we finally got that worked out yesterday, we have to wait until Tuesday because the shots are overnighted from a special pharmacy. It was too late to send it yesterday, and they don’t ship Fri-Sun, so they are sending it Monday and we should get it Tuesday.

Meanwhile, my big bad husband who never complains is constantly wincing in pain and has even cried quite a few times because he hurts, he’s tired, and he’s frustrated with the whole process. I really just want my husband to feel better and do the things he loves (like respond to fire calls), and I feel so angry and helpless about this whole process.

Not every day has been bad, though. He had a really good weekend, and he even initiated some sexy time on Sunday for the first time in a month. Consequently, I ovulated the next day, so we’re not writing off this month like I had previously thought. Maybe we’ll get a one-hit-wonder baby this month… I’m not getting my hopes up, but I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Anyway, if you are a praying person, please pray that hubby starts feeling better ASAP after he starts his shot on Tuesday. The first time he takes it, he actually has to take four. Then he takes two the next time, then just one every time (he’ll take it twice a month). If you are not a praying person, please send healing vibes and good juju his way.

On a completely different note, make sure to email me your project before tomorrow if you want to participate in the Little Miss Craftypants Challenge. It doesn’t have to be anything big or complicated, but we would love to have as many people crafting with us as possible!

I didn’t get a lot of responses on my Little Miss Craftypants post, but that’s ok. Anyone who wants to participate is welcome, and if no one wants to, you can all see what I make :o)

Anyone who wants to participate in February needs to email me by the end of the day Friday (catchingourrainbow (at) gmail (dot) com), and I will make a post showing the projects that we are going to make. Your email needs to include:

A picture of the project you are going to make (or a picture of your inspiration)

A link to the project if you got your idea online or the name of the book/magazine you got your idea from

Tell me why you picked this project, you can even add a little history about how long you’ve knitted, why you started sewing, or why you love painting, etc.

Also, let me know if you are interested in making this some sort of challenge? I’m not sure yet what the prize would be…maybe we can do three months and everyone who participated can do a crafty exchange or something?

I was thinking about saying the projects are due Monday, February 25–does that sound reasonable?

I’m looking forward to your emails and having some ladies to get crafty with!

I have read a few different blogs that mentioned craftiness: sewing, knitting, painting, crochet, etc. and I was thinking about doing some sort of crafty club/challenge. I know I’ve starting doing a lot more sewing and knitting in the past year to deal with everything that is going on and it would be fun to share our projects. After all, there is much more to each of us than infertility, and I would like to share that with you. I know Dog Mom Chasing the Stork did a Lazy Pinners Challenge for awhile, and I would love to do something like that, except it doesn’t necessarily have to be on Pinterest and it’s just for crafty stuff. I need some sort of fun thing to do with you all to help brighten my spirits and give me a distraction. I haven’t figured out the details yet–I’m thinking one craft per month and you can choose to participate or not depending on where you are at the time? It’s a little late to do one in January, so we could start in February. Let know know if you are interested and any ideas you have about how we should do it. You can comment here or send me an email: catchingourrainbow (at) gmail (dot) com.